Magazine-firearm.



No. 787,257. PATENTED APR. 11, 1905.

W. B. ATKINSON.

MAGAZINE FIREARM.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 3, 1904.

//v VENTOR WilIiamBAflsinsofi.

NITED STATES \VILLIAM B. ATKINSON, OF BOWLING GREEN, KENTUCKY, ASSIGNOR OF Patented April 11, 1905.

ONE-HALF TO EUGENE R. BAGBY, OF BOWLING GREEN, KENTUCKY.

MAGAZINE-FIREARM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 787,257, dated April 11, 1905.

Application filed May 3, 1904. Serial No. 206,129,

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM B. ATKINSON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Bowling Green, in the county of Warren and State of Kentucky, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Magazine-Firearms, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to magazine-firearms of that class in which the magazine is constructed as a tube arranged parallel to and below the barrel, from which magazine the shells are fed rearwardly by a spiral spring and are introduced into the barrel by mechanism set into action by a reciprocating sleeve sliding on the tubular magazine. A familiar example of this type is the Winchester magazine-gun. In this class of magazine-guns the loaded shell is transferred by a pumping action of the reciprocating sleeve from the magazine into the gun-barrel, the gun is then fired, and bya second pumping action of the sleeve the empty shell is expelled and a new loaded shell is brought up to position for firing.

My invention is designed to unload the magazine without any pumping action of the gun and in a simple, safe, and expeditious manner and without dropping the loaded shells; and to this end it consists in the novel construction and combination of a little attachment whereby the above results are accomplished, as will be hereinafter fully described with reference to the drawings, in which Figure 1 is a side view of the middle portion of a Winchester magazine-shotgun with my attachment applied to the same. Fig. 2 is an underneath view of the same parts, and Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section taken in the plane of the line 3 3 of Fig. l.

A is the metal frame; B, the barrel; 0, the reciprocating sleeve; O, the operating-bar connected to the reciprocating sleeve and imparting its motion to the loading and firing mechanism within the frame A.

M is the tubular magazine, within which the shells S are retained in tandem relation and are pressed rearwardly by a spiral spring in the forward part of the tube.

I) is the breech-block, which is pivoted at its end next to the butt of the gun and which plays vertically at its forward end in the middle chamber of the frame A as the loaded shell is transferred from the open rear end of the tubular magazine to the open rear end of the barrel.

As so far described the gun does not differ from the repeating Winchester shotgun already in use.

My invention is in the nature of a little attachment consisting of a yoke a, embracing the lower edge of the frame A just in front of the opening in which the breech-block D plays. This yoke has a slight longitudinal reciprocation, and for this purpose it has a slot at a, through which passes a headed screw 0, which holds it to the lower edge of the gun. The two branches of the yoke curve upwardly around 2 and 3, and which ends are also slotted lon-y gitudinally to the gun to give passage to the shanks of headed screws e 6. These screws extend through the side walls of the frame A and are rigidly connected to the forward ends of two springs ff, which'play laterally in channels formed in the inner walls of the central chamber. The forward ends of these springs have inwardly-projecting detent-lugs Z Z, which normally rest behind the metal rim of the shell and hold the shell against being thrown to the rear from the action of the magazine-spring. When, however, the yoke a is slid to the rear, the wedge-shaped faces- 'of the arms Z) slide under the heads of the screws 6 and draw both of them outwardly. and with them at the same time the forward ends of the springs ff, bearing the stop-lugs H, are also drawn outwardly and the lugs removed thereby from range of engagement with the rim of the shell. The loaded shell is then free to pass out of the magazine into the hand. To look this sliding yoke against to face the screw 0 the yoke a may he slid to i the rear to permit the removal of the loaded shell; but when this button is turned so that its other side comes against the screw 0, as shown by the dotted lines, then the yoke is locked against rearward movement. Now if the magazine be loaded and it is desired to remove the shells without firing them the gun is inverted or turned so that the bottom opening in the breech is uppermost, as seen in Fig. 2, the button d is adjusted to the position shown in full lines, and with the hand covering the opening in the breech and the thumb behind the shell the yoke a is pulled to the rear. The first shell will then pass out into the hand, and by releasing the pressure on the yoke a the springs ff will restore the lugs Z Z to their stop position behind the next shell while the first shell is being safely put away, and then the same operation is repeated until all the loaded shells have been taken from the magazine. This operation, it will be seen, saves a great deal of unnecessary wear and tear on the loading and firing mechanism and makes a very simple, safe, convenient, and practical way of unloading the gun. For the transfer of the loaded shell to the barrel for firing, the springs f, with lugs Z, are operated by the pumping action of the reciprocating sleeve in the usual way.

The locking device is a very important part of my attachment, for without it the retaining-lugs are liable to be accidentally withdrawn from their holding position by inadvertent pressure of the hand or otherwise, in which case the entire contents of the magazine would be thrown out of the gun onto the ground or into the water at what might be a critical juncture in the use of the gun.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination with a magazine-gun having a magazine-tube as described; of two laterally-moving stop-lugs arranged one on each side of the magazine-tube and a sliding yoke arranged to reciprocate on the lower edge of the frame in front of the breech-opening, said yoke having its ends formed into cams and screws attached to the stop-lugs and extending through the sides of the frame and having heads overlapping the cams of the yoke substantially as shown and described.

2. The combination with a magazinegun having a magazine-tube as described; of two laterally-moving stop-lugs arranged one on each side of the magazine-tube, asliding yoke arranged to reciprocate on the lower edge of the frame in front of the breech-opening, said yoke having its ends formed into cams, screws attached to the stop-lugs and extending through the sides of the frame and having heads overlapping the cams of the yoke, and an adjustable locking device for preventing the sliding of the yoke substantially asshown and described.

3. The combination with a magazine-gun having a magazine-tube as described; of two laterally-moving springs bearing inwardlyprojecting stop-lugs at their forward ends, said springs and lugs being arranged in channels on each side of the breech-opening with the stop-lugs behind the magazine-tube and a hand-operated slide arranged externally along the bottom of the gun-frame and connected to the stop-lugs to withdraw them from their stop position as described.

4. The combination with a magazine-gun havinga magazine-tube as described; of an unloading attachment consisting of an external sliding yoke arranged along the bottom of the gun-frame and having its ends curved upwardly and extended rearwardly and formed with slots and cams, two springs arranged longitudinally in channels in the breechchamber and bearing inwardly projecting stop-lugs at their forward ends and headed screws extending through the sides of the gun and rigidly connected to the lugs and having their heads overlapping the cams of the yoke substantially as and for the purpose described.

5. The combination with a magazine-gun havinga magazine-tube as described; of an unloading attachment consisting of an external sliding yoke arranged along the bottom of the gun-frame and slotted and connected to the same by a headed retaining-screw, said yoke having its ends curved upwardly and extending rearwardly and formed with slots and cams, two springs arranged longitudinally in channels in the breech-chamber and bearing inwardly-projecting stop-lugs at their forward ends, headed screws extending through the sides of the gun and rigidly connected to j the lugs and having their heads overlapping the cams of the yokes and a pivoted button arranged on the middle part of the yoke and having a cut-away side, said button being adapted, when turned, to abut against the retaining-screw and'lock the yoke against movement substantially as described.

6. The combination with a magazine-gun having a subjacent magazine-tube; of adjustable stop-lugs for holding the shells in the tube and an externally-arranged and hand-operated adjusting device for removing the stoplugs from range of engagement with the shells and a locking device for such hand-operated adjusting device substantially as described.

7. The combination with a magazinegun having a subjacent magazine-tube; of two adjustable stop-lugs arranged one on each side of the rear end of the magazine, and a single external adjusting means connected to both lugs for simultaneously pulling both of these lugs outwardly with an equal throw to discharge the contents of the magazine as described.

8. The combination with a magazineQ- gun having a subjacent magazine-tube; of two adjustable stop-lugs arranged one on each side of the rear end of the magazine, a single external adjusting means for simultaneously pulling both these lugs outwardly to discharge the contents of the magazine and a single locking device controlling the adjusting device for both lugs substantially as described.

9. The combination with a magazine-gun having a subjacent magazine-tube; of a device for holding the shells in the magazine, external and manually-operated means for adjusting the shell-holding device and a locking device for said manually-operated means sub- 5 stantially as described.

WILLIAM B. ATKINSON.

Witnesses: V

BYRON RENFREW, THOS. W. THOMAS. 

